Master.
"..."
I calmly looked at the man standing in front of me.
The fact that the Heretic Questioner wasn't using the word 'master' as a figure of speech was clear just from his smile. This man, who sometimes felt like an innocent child, did not know how to make a joke.
I couldn't help but ask.
"Just so we're clear. Heretic Questioner, by saying that you want to take me as your Master, does that mean you'll…"
"I will obey all of your commands."
The Heretic Questioner responded before I could finish my question.
"I will kill anyone you tell me to kill. And I will spare anyone you tell me to spare! As I said before, your judgment will be my judgment, and your actions will be my actions."
The Heretic Questioner lifted his hand and placed it on the right side of his chest. Then, he gave a slight bow which reminded me of a butler.
"I will be your most useful tool!"
"..."
"The best part of a good tool is that they [have a performance that remains consistent]. I don't mean to brag, but I do not believe there is a tool more useful than me when it comes to purging warlords, supervising the internal situation, and keeping the group together! Death King. You will always be able to count on my performance!"
To put it differently.
The Heretic Questioner was basically saying one thing.
[I will never change].
"You can count on me!"
The Heretic Questioner said these words with a bright smile.
When I saw him being so confident in his own inability to change, my heart ached for some reason.
「I feel like I've become a mischievous child after regaining my emotions!」
Because I knew the Heretic Questioner could change.
「I think I'm becoming addicted to feeling emotions.」
「Have you always lived with these emotions?」
I was the only one.
The only one who knew a side of him that even the Heretic Questioner had not experienced.
Beneath the white blossoms of the magnolia tree, the Heretic Questioner muttered.
「If I had done it like that back then. Or if I had done it like this. I wonder if I still would have lived a wandering life like this, filled with drifting thoughts.」
「This is why you all are so beautiful, and so lovely.」
「If I were like you all...」
I couldn't forget the words the Heretic Questioner had spoken at that time.
And I could guess the words he'd swallowed at the end.
[If I could feel emotions like you, I wonder if I could have lived a different life?]
I could tell because I had met many psychopaths.
The boundary that determined whether someone was a psychopath or not was usually connected to a small phrase.
'If only I could be like you.'
From the moment he could say those words.
For me, it showed he wasn't just a psycho, but a man who had unknowingly ended up living his current life.
"...Name."
I opened my mouth.
"Huh?"
"Your name. Not your title, your real name. The old man's name is Marcus Calenbury, and Venomous Snake's name is Liao Fan."
And the Count's real name was 'Nisha'. The Crusader had accidentally called the Count by her real name before. However, since the Count had never told me that directly, I pretended to not know.
The Sword Saint and Venomous Snake were the only two people among our group who told me their real names.
"Heretic Questioner. I would like to know your name."
"Ah."
The Heretic Questioner blinked.
"Is that an order?"
"Can you not tell me your name if it's a request and not an order?"
"That's right!"
"Why?"
"I. No. We made a pact with the Black Dragon Master a long time ago. [We were abandoned by the outside world. We are strangers who have thrown our nationalities, properties, ties and everything else into the dead sea. So let's also throw away the names we received from the outside world. From now on, when we refer to each other, let's use the names given to us by the Tower]"
Indeed.
'I didn't know they had such a pact.'
It suddenly occurred to me that I wasn't a part of the original group that came to the Tower.
"The Black Dragon Master has complicated feelings about the outside world. She hates it, despises it even, but still longs for its approval. Hahaha. She's probably the most emotional out of all of us!"
The Heretic Questioner tilted his head to the side.
"In any case, the Sword Saint withdrew from our group. So he doesn't need to be tied down by our pact! And Venomous Snake wasn't a part of our pact in the first place. Nevertheless, I value promises. So, Death King, if you really want to know the name I had in the outside world…"
The Heretic Questioner narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Please order me to tell you."
"..."
"I will obey you."
I could tell.
This wasn't a question of whether he wanted to say his name or not.
It meant that he would prioritize my [orders] over his [pact] with the original members.
It was a pledge of his loyalty towards me.
'...can I take responsibility?'
I thought about it.
'Could I give this person a different life? Could a psychopath really be put in charge of another psychopath? I had the desire. And I had the greed. However, was I capable enough?'
I looked at the Heretic Questioner.
Without saying a word, the Heretic Questioner simply waited for my response.
'I had the opportunity to reform the Heretic Questioner in [Tales of Somerwin Academy]. But I failed. I missed the chance. I was so focused on doing my best to help Raviel that I didn't even pay attention to this child.'
If only I had one more chance.
At that moment, I was wondering if I could provide a better life for the Heretic Questioner.
'I can do it.'
I found my answer.
'I want to do it.'
I nodded.
"Yes."
Although the second chance hadn't come around yet.
For the time being, I would take care of this child in front of me.
"Tell me your name."
The Heretic Questioner chuckled.
"My real name is Bambolina."
His laughter caused his blonde hair to bounce.
"Strictly speaking, it's hard to call that my real name. It would be better to say it was a nickname!"
Nickname.
"I was raised by the Mafia as a child. The mafiosos always called me 'baby doll' and that's where the name comes from. Ah. Bambolina means doll! I was also called Kykna."
The Heretic Questioner smiled brightly.
"The organization that imprisoned me was based in Bulgaria. It was a very large organization with many branches that stretched in different directions. I was trained to be used in the business of one of those branches."
"The reason you're using past tense is because…"
"They don't exist on earth anymore!"
The Heretic Questioner smiled gently and took out a small lock from his pocket. Like a coin spinning trick, the lock bounced around the fingers of his left hand.
"I was held captive for 11 years. Usually, after training, I would lay on my bed and wonder. [If I can open the lock on the door to my room, is there a reason to not open it?]"
Click.
With a soft sound, the lock in the Heretic Questioner's hand opened.
"But after thinking about it, I realized there was none!"
So he escaped.
"I couldn't find a reason to not kill the person watching over me. And I also couldn't find a reason to not kill the boss too!"
There were people who wouldn't do things without a reason, and there were people who would do things without a reason. The Heretic Questioner was definitely the latter.
"Because of that, there was a feud between the two high ranking officers and the four lower ones. I also manipulated the scene a bit so that their suspicions could grow. Half a year later, they seemed to have begun to suspect that it was actually my fault, but ahaha. By that time, half of the organization had already been destroyed!"
The Mafia's Baby Doll then entered the Tower.
And the Tower had acquired a terrifyingly capable beast.
"…why do you want me to be your Master?"
"The first reason is, of course, because the Death King is more competent than I am."
The Heretic Questioner paused for a moment after saying that.
"The second reason is... because I started hesitating."
"Hesitating?"
"Mm. Yes… How can I say it so you can understand?"
The Heretic Questioner furrowed his eyebrows as if he didn't know what to say, a rare phenomenon.
"After we cleared [Tales of Somerwin Academy], I felt a bit… strange. Even if I punished terrorists as usual, I couldn't execute them as quickly as before. To others, there might only be a one second difference, but for me, that one second difference was strange…"
The Heretic Questioner was deep in thought.
"Because in that one second, I seemed to recall the scenes in the Somerwin Academy that I shared with the Death King."
"..."
"Is that weird?"
No.
It wasn't weird at all.
Instead, I was just surprised.
'The influence is still there.'
The route where the Heretic Questioner had been completely enamored with the Lady of Golden Silk had disappeared. It was gone. However, even in the new route that I took, the Heretic Questioner must have felt some feelings for the Lady of Golden Silk, albeit slightly.
Even if the immersion rate was less than 10%.
No, even if it was only 1%.
The baby doll must have experienced 'emotion'.
"Death King. You are the reason for my hesitation."
The Heretic Questioner continued.
"You took away one second of my life. It was my first time experiencing something like that. If it's you, I feel like that one second might become one minute, or even one hour!"
The Heretic Questioner smiled brightly.
"I understand now. Perhaps this is what humans call hope. Maybe people are always waiting to find someone else who takes up their time. So in that sense, you are my hope!"
"The fact that you can take away my time doesn't make it less. Yes. Somehow, without fully understanding why, I understand this."
The Heretic Questioner stretched his hand towards me and on it, was a small rusty lock.
"It will just add your rhythm to my melody. My monophony(1). I can barely imagine your tune blending with my monotonous humming."
I took the lock.
"Because of you, it might be possible for me to become music, Death King. Even people like me."
The Heretic Questioner smiled.
"Can I use you as my hope?"
"..."
I felt heavy.
I was afraid.
There was only a slight difference between heaviness and fear, so it was possible that I was just afraid of carrying the weight of the Heretic Questioner on my back.(2)
I thought of the weight of Preta. I thought of the weight of the cult members and Sylvia Evanail. I thought about the weight of the Constellation Killer. I thought about the weight of the goblins. And finally, I wondered if I could handle the weight of another person.
"Yes."
The Heretic Questioner was my companion.
"I will be your hope."
It didn't matter if the Heretic Questioner was a beast.
Humans were also beasts who envied others.
This child and I were on the road to becoming humans.
"Without my permission,"
I ordered.
"Don't kill anyone."
"Yes!"
"Without my permission, don't torture anyone."
"Yes."
"And without my permission, don't lock anyone up."
"Understood!"
"Please tell me if you have any concerns. I will always listen to you without judging you. I won't even look at you strangely. I'll always try to think from your perspective, Bambolina. Please think of me as someone like you."
"..."
The Heretic Questioner put his hands in front of his chest.
It felt like he was [saying a prayer].
"Yes. You are more capable than I am. Since you are my hope, I will work hard for you."
4th ranked. Ten Thousand Temple Master.
The baby doll swore allegiance to me.
"I was eliminated on this stage, so I can't accompany you to the 33rd floor. Even this is only a temporarily arranged meeting I got after asking [The Lady Who Walks Through the Mirage]. It will soon end. I'll keep the Death King's orders in mind when I return to Babylon!"
"Yes."
I stroked the Heretic Questioner's head.
"Please take care of the house. Mr. Pseudo Sect Leader."
"Ahaha-."
The Heretic Questioner laughed.
"I will heed your orders! Gong-ja!"
With those words, the Heretic Questioner's figure faded.
[The Heretic Questioner failed to complete the quest.]
[The Heretic Questioner has been eliminated from this stage!]
And in the next moment, my other companions appeared around me.
Sword Saint. Black Dragon Master. Count. Venomous Snake. Crusader.
This group, who had successfully completed the quest, all looked at me in confusion
"…have you been here for a long time after you declared stage clear?"
The Black Dragon Master responded.
"Death King. You were the first one to declare clear. Where have you been?"
I smiled.
"I was just saying goodbye to the Heretic Questioner."
The path we took was by no means meaningless.
Even if we couldn't say it or see it, someone, somewhere, was being influenced by us.
Holding the lock tightly in my hand, I said.
"Everyone worked hard. Let's head to the next stage."